Am Freitag, 19. September 2008 00:33 schrieb Rob deFriesse:
> I would like to know why I'm getting a particular compile time error
> message.
>> In this program, I am specifying a function type on /combs'/ in the
> where clause:
>> --------
> module Main where
>> import List (delete)
>> combs :: Eq a => [a] -> Int -> [[a]]
> combs l 1 = map (\x -> [x]) l
> combs l n = foldl combs' [] l
> where combs' :: Eq a => [[a]] -> a -> [[a]]
> combs' acc x = let sl = delete x l in (map (\i -> x:i) $ combs
> sl (n-1)) ++ acc
>> main = do
> print $ combs ["a","b","c","d"] 3
> --------
>> I get this error message from GHC 6.8.3:
>> cafe1.hs:9:43:
> Couldn't match expected type `a1' against inferred type `a'
> `a1' is a rigid type variable bound by
> the type signature for `combs'' at cafe1.hs:8:23
> `a' is a rigid type variable bound by
> the type signature for `combs' at cafe1.hs:5:12
> Expected type: [a1]
> Inferred type: [a]
> In the second argument of `delete', namely `l'
> In the expression: delete x l
>> I don't understand why I'm seeing this. The type /a/ is the same type
> in /combs/ and /combs'/.
Not quite. As it is, the type signature of combs' promises that for all types
b which belong to Eq, combs' has type [[b]] -> b -> [[b]], because the a from
the top level type signature is not in scope. Therefore, ghc complains about
the use of l in the definition of combs', since l has a specific type.
You can either remove the signature for combs' or bring the type variable a
into scope by the pragma {-# LANGUAGE ScopedTypeVariables #-} at the top of
your file or the flag -XScopedTypeVariables on the command line and changing
the signature of combs to
combs :: forall a. (Eq a) => [a] -> Int -> [[a]],
I think then you must leave off the (Eq a) from the signature of combs'.
> I realize I can remove the type specification
> from /combs'/, and the code will compile. However, I'd like to get a
> better understanding of why GHC objects to this.
>> Thank you,
> Rob.